Tribal NGOs misused grants to make private residences: Ministry

NEW DELHI: At a time when the government is desperately trying to take growth to remote tribal-dominated areas, it has found that a key link in the chain - voluntary organisations - has been malfunctioning. Random surveys, conducted by the tribal affairs ministry, have unearthed how over the years NGOs had been getting grants from the Centre for tribal welfare and the money was being misused to make private residences.

The ministry has also found that bureaucrats had changed rules to favour certain voluntary organisations that had been getting funds from the Centre for almost a decade. The misuse of money was unearthed after several complaints from members of Parliament, and representations from grassroot NGOs claiming they had not received any assistance despite doing welfare work in tribal areas.

A survey conducted in Manipur presented a shocking picture. The ministry team visited a doctor couple in Thoubal. They had been receiving grants for 10 years for running a mobile dispensary to distribute medicines in far-flung tribal areas. The survey revealed the mobile dispensary was only on paper. The team found a van with a flat tyre and a beehive inside it.

When the team demanded to see the logbook for their visits in tribal areas, the couple said their computers were not working since there was no electricity. An hour later when the team returned, they found two youngsters hurriedly filling logbooks, faking the visits of the mobile van. Local inquiry revealed over the last five years, the doctor couple had added two storeys to their house.

A member of the inspection team, on condition of anonymity, said: "This is the first time that the ministry has conducted an on-ground survey. We have found several non-deserving NGOs who have been receiving funds and not utilising them. There is no audit mechanism, so we do not know if the money is reaching the tribals." The ministry is set to blacklist the errant NGOs now. The team found excellent projects as well where tribal students were given free education, boarding and uniforms in schools.

The ministry gives grants-in-aid to voluntary organisations for "welfare of scheduled tribes, including coaching and allied works". Under this head, NGOs get funds for schemes like starting residential and non-residential schools, hostels, 10-bedded hospitals, mobile dispensaries and computer-training centres.

The ministry has been receiving 60 crore for the last two fiscals for this purpose. What has stumped the ministry is how rules have been changed to favour a few NGOs. A highly placed source said: "There is no sunset clause for these grants-in-aid. We have found cases where non-deserving NGOs have been funded for years without any audit or proof of utilisation of money." The annual grant to each NGO ranged between 25 lakh and 5 crore.

The inquiry into the grants-in-aid has also found that the bureaucrats had introduced a clause that no fresh proposal would be considered by the ministry. As per the set procedures, at the beginning of each financial year, the ministry sends circular inviting state governments to forward proposals from NGOs for grants. This circular used to be delayed till October.

The state government would then send proposals, which would get bunched up by the end of fiscal towards February. The clause of "no fresh proposal" was introduced and the NGOs that had been getting grants continued to receive them while the other proposals lapsed.

A source said: "These proposals were not kept pending to receive grants the next year. They were rejected. This meant that the following year again they had to be forwarded by the state governments. An examination of our files has shown that many deserving projects did not get funding and after trying for two years, and seeing this policy, they stopped trying for Centre's grants."

After surveys in the northeastern states, where the government has been funding a lot of NGO-driven projects, the ministry would conduct an audit in the states affected by Naxal violence, including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

When contacted, tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo confirmed that certain non-deserving NGOs had received grants from the ministry. "We are looking into the matter and making policy changes.

We would soon publish on our website the entire list of NGOs that have been receiving grants from the ministry under different heads. A monitoring mechanism would be instituted, which would involve ground-level surveys. This would help us in auditing the work of NGOs and gauging if they are really utilising the money they are receiving from us."

A project monitoring committee will be set up in the tribal affairs ministry. Deo said that he had also asked for a review of all proposals received by the ministry since 2009.